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Tonight in San Jose the MLS All-Stars will look to keep their winning streak alive as they take on Premier League giants Arsenal in a battle that has been poorly dubbed North America vs. North London. This is the 21st MLS All-Star game, and the 11th time that the All-Star game has pitted MLS versus a big European club.
In that time, MLS has a record of seven wins and four defeats. They have won their last two all-star games, beating Bayern Munich in 2014 off of goals from Bradley Wright-Phillips and Landon Donovan, before beating Tottenham 2-1 last year courtesy of David Villa and Kaka.
This year's all-star game once again has MLS at a distinct advantage, as Arsenal are missing several key players. Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesaker, Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny will not be playing. Debutant Granit Xhaka, however, is in the lineup.
MLS, on the other hand, may have its best All-Star team yet featuring the likes of Didier Drogba, David Villa, Andrea Pirlo, Sebastian Giovinco and Kaka.
The Toronto FC Angle:
Giovinco will make his All-Star game debut tonight after missing last year's event due to injury. Toronto FC had three players named to the All-Star team last year, all three of their DPs, but only Jozy Altidore was able to attend as the others were injured. Giovinco was the only TFC player named to the team this season. It will be exciting to see what he can do alongside the league's best players.
From a Canadian men's national team angle, Cyle Larin will make the first appearance by a Canadian in an All-Star game since Will Johnson did in 2014. Larin has followed up his record-breaking rookie campaign by scoring 10 goals and adding 3 assists to start this season. This could be a big game for him, as European scouts will undoubtedly be watching.
Lineups:
Major League Soccer:
Goalkeepers: David Bingham, Andre Blake
Defenders: Steve Birnbaum, Laurent Ciman, Andrew Farrell, Liam Ridgewell, Keegan Rosenberry, Brandon Vincent, Kendall Waston
Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman, Mauro Diaz, Giovani dos Santos, Jermaine Jones, Kaká,Sacha Kljestan, Darlington Nagbe, Andrea Pirlo, Wil Trapp
Forwards: Clint Dempsey, Didier Drogba, Sebastian Giovinco, Cyle Larin, Ignacio Piatti, David Villa, Chris Wondolowski
Arsenal:
Goalkeepers: Petr Cech, Emiliano Martinez, David Ospina
Defenders: Hector Bellerin, Krystian Bielik, Calum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy, Kieran Gibbs, Rob Holding, Nacho Monreal
Midfielders: Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Mohamed Elneny, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Chris Willock, Jack Wilshere, Granit Xhaka, Gedion Zelalem
Forwards: Chuba Akpom, Joel Campbell, Alex Iwobi, Theo Walcott
More Information:
Stadium: Avaya Stadium, San Jose, California
Kick-Off Time: 7:30 PM Eastern
TV: TSN 2
Streaming: TSN Go